The field of the disclosure relates generally to the performance of automated operations on a workpiece, and, more particularly, to methods and devices that are autonomously guided along the workpiece to targeted operation sites.
Many structures, such as but not limited to aircraft, are manufactured, inspected, cleaned, repaired, and/or otherwise maintained at least partly using automated processes. At least some such processes, including but not limited to forming fastener openings in a workpiece, coupling fasteners to the workpiece, applying surface coatings to the workpiece, and performing inspections of particular locations on the workpiece, are performed by one or more automated devices. However, in at least some cases, a speed and efficiency of such automated processes are limited to the extent that the automated devices must be guided to the appropriate target sites on the workpiece for each operation.
At least some such processes rely at least partially on facility-based and/or environment-based guidance systems to facilitate positioning the automated devices with respect to the workpiece. However, such guidance systems require establishing and maintaining a known position and orientation of each workpiece relative to the facility, which adds a layer of complexity and expense to the location problem. In addition, at least some such facility-based and/or environment-based guidance systems, such as but not limited to laser coordinate tracking systems, require line-of-sight contact between dedicated facility-based sensors and each automated device during operations, thus limiting a range of the automated devices and limiting a number of automated devices that can be guided simultaneously. Furthermore, installing and maintaining some such facility-based and/or environment-based guidance systems requires a layer of technological complexity in addition to the automated devices themselves. Moreover, an accuracy of at least some such facility-based and/or environment-based guidance systems, including but not limited to GPS-based guidance systems, is not sufficient to position the automated devices with a required precision for certain operations.